OK, coaches, I need help with developing the arms of our HS program. The last few years, we’ve used the basics from the Jaeger long toss program. Some of the boys progressed nicely while the progress of others was quite disappointing. We do have some obstacles. Many of our players are multi-sport, so they are unable to join us until a week or two prior to the start of games (sometimes later). Some of those winter sport athletes are able to get some throwing in prior and some don’t. So, we have kids at different progression levels at most points in time during the first half of the season. We try to match up players accordingly during warm-ups/ long toss. We try to make sure everyone gradually builds up to something close to a max distance. We also have fairly small roster sizes with many two-way players, so we are particularly cautious with those arms. Due to a short practice season, we also have to cram in a lot of situational practices that involve throwing, so finding rest time is a challenge. Despite our efforts to work everyone gradually but regularly toward arm strength gains, we seem to come up short with a few too many of the players. We’ve tried LT daily. We’ve tried alternating LT and regular warm-up days. We seem to get the same results.
So...
Do you guys long toss every day as well as conduct normal practice? How do you deal with players at different levels of progression? Are any of you having similar problems with some players hitting a wall at a distance far too short (mechanics are fine- they just can’t get it out there and don’t make expected gains)? What routines are working best for you guys when it comes to arm strength development over the course of pre-season practice and into the season?
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